News

A BOURNEMOUTH councillor has been ordered to make a public apology for her controversial online comments about the English Defence League.

Conservative Cllr Sue Anderson has been told she needs to apologise at next Tuesday’s full council meeting, send a written apology to the complainant and undertake equality and diversity training.

Those were the recommendations of Bournemouth’s standards committee, who discussed the issue at a private meeting last month.

They concluded that Cllr Anderson had potentially breached the council’s code of conduct with her comments on Twitter late at night on Saturday, May 5.

The mum-of-four and grandmother, who represents the Moordown area, referred herself to the standards committee and to her party’s disciplinary procedures after her comments were criticised by
hundreds of people.

One of her comments was that ‘nobody else except the EDL stick up for the English’.

She also tweeted to an account jointly run by a woman of Asian descent: ‘If you don’t like it here go back to where you came from’.

When contacted by the Echo, Cllr Anderson said she was not allowed to say anything about the decision of the standards committee but confirmed she would be making an apology at full council. She
has previously made an unreserved apology and said that she had not understood the ‘racist’ views of the EDL.

Council leader John Beesley, who is also the leader of the Conservative group, said Cllr Anderson would need to make her apology at full council before the issue of her rejoining the Conservative
group could be addressed. He also said he understood Cllr Anderson had referred herself for equality training and had already completed this.